The car was found to be as advertized and there were no unpleasant surprises. I did have the car checked out at a local shop in CA but you never know how things turn out and how thorough people are on your behalf.

In fact, except for two new Yokohama AVS Sport 205/55/WR tires (and of course the exhaust I just had to change right off the bat) the car was worthy of a decent roadtrip. So we decided to go to Oklahoma to participate in the US Mid-West 914 Ramble organized by the PCA SIG.

Packing up Silver was a pleasure – like the first feeling of ownership really sets in when you are about to go somewhere with a purpose. Tagging along with lots of other 914′eeners from Mid-TX, we had a great drive.

I am a tall guy and although it does look cramped, it really isn’t at all. The 914 has plenty room to stretch even long legs for both driver and passenger.

The event coincided with Halloween and some people took that quite serious. I still remember our neighbours the first night – a vampire in the form of Dennis Carter It is his and Linda’s car parked to the right of Silver, BTW. Well, old car – Dennis and Linda also owns a six now, maybe I have some pictures of it for later. Lots of other folks had gone a long way to make it a festive night, too.

We can’t really say we had great weather – some showers during the day, and quite foggy during the evening drives towards dinner and pleasures. Coming and going to the event saw some great driving in great conditions.

Several photo albums exist from this event such as:

Pelican Parts 914 SIG Ramble pics, 2002

All in all we had a great trip and a great first experience with Silver. Zero issues of any kind, just turn the key and have fun. What more could I possibly want?

Meet Ole Yeller, a trusted companion of my friend, 914′eener Rich Johnson since (I believe) 1976. Rich bought the car as a very young man in Little Rock, AR with only 35.000 miles on it from the original owner.

Like most, Yeller has gone through phases in her life. For instance, from ‘83 to ‘89 the car had the 914 Empi replica alloys, front and rear spoilers and twin black center stripes running the length of the body. Lower rockers were the ABS plastic type with the raised PORSCHE letters yellowed to match the body color.

Since then, Yeller has matured – a lot! Besides being one of the nicest stock looking 914’s anywhere (and with quite a few imitators out there by now), this 914-6 is mechanically designed and sorted like few others. Since the mid-nineties, a carbureted, ‘78 911 SC 3.0L engine has been residing in the engine bay. A few of the engine tweeks include a Web Cam 2021 cam set, 40 IDA 3C’s on tall PMO manifolds with watershields. Power is estimated at 230 HP. Zero to sixty times are in the low 5s.

A few of the many mods include:

- Stock CD ignition with a recurved centrifugal advance distributor.

- 930 pressure fed tensioner kit.

- An internally regulated alternator is used to add some charging power which also allows the relay board to be removed adding space in the engine bay.

- Powder-coated factory 914-6 sheet metal.

- A custom oil system, visually undetectable, plumbed to the factory 914-6 oil tank and connected to a twin fan cooled Earl’s auxiliary oil cooler for the extra oil cooling need in Texas.

- 914-6 heat exchangers are coated with a thermal barrier to keep the exhaust heat out from under the car and provide warmth when needed.

- A polished, twin outlet, stainless steel sport muffler rips that wonderful boxer six engine sound.

- A ‘73 901 side-shifter is connected to the 3.0L six.- Porsche’s ZF limited slip differential keeps the car hooked up.

- The gear selection is set for street use. First and second gears are stock. Third is just slightly shorter than OE “N” gear with 4th and 5th setup as highway gears. Final drive in 5th calculates to 155 MPH at 6,000 RPM! Rich doubts he’ll ever know if the car will go that fast.

- The clutch package is a ‘70/’71 911 setup. It uses the OE 225mm disc with an aluminum 225 pull-type diaphram pressure plate.

- Hydraulic master and slave units operate the push style clutch fork and eliminate the cable problems associated with HD clutches the early style system.

- Chassis stiffening kit

- Heavily modified rear trailing arms

I have many, many pictures and even video (with a great sound track) of Ole Yeller which I will be posting as time permits.